Edison Was on Mars First!?

The success of NASA's two martian rovers - Spirit and Opportunity - is call for great celebration. Yet, let us not forget Edison's conquest of Mars more than 100 years ago.

Well it was a fictional story titled: "Edison's Conquest of Mars" and was a follow up to H.G. Wells "The War of the Worlds."

The success of Well's story drove a New York newspaper publisher to do something similar. So, Garrett P. Serviss was hired to write the piece which then appeared in serial format over several weeks. Both stories were written in the late 19th century.

Later, in 1947, Edison's Conquest of Mars was reprinted in book format by a California publisher. A copy of this limited edition book was donated to the Edison Museum in 2002 and is now on display.

One Sci Fi reviewer said, "It took me five years to finally find a copy of this rare book and now I can tell you its value is purely historical rather than literary."

Regardless, we like it very much - another piece of Edisonian material.